Whether it’s the high school freshman who won’t stop asking the captain of the cheerleading team on a date, or the employee who constantly pesters her supervisor to let her take on the big account, or maybe it’s that son or daughter who won’t let you leave the restaurant without getting dessert; we all know at least one person who won’t quit no matter what.
Persistence pays off. Jesus illustrates this beautifully in Luke 18 with the parable of the persistent widow. Christ used this example to show His disciples that they should take their needs to God in prayer and never give up.
Luke 18:2-5 (NLT) reads, “There was a judge in a certain city who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Whatever the woman’s dispute was, it was not going away. She was so persistent that Jesus says it was driving the judge crazy. Finally, the judge relented and made sure that whatever controversy was being debated would be put to rest. But then look at Luke 18:6-8 (NLT) and see how Jesus relates this back to prayer.
Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Jesus is basically saying that the judge didn’t care about the woman, but still gave her what she asked for because of her faith and persistence. If that’s the case, won’t God, who loves you, give you what you ask for so long as you are faithful and persistent?
The key to the story is having persistence and faith. When you go to God in prayer, are you going to Him with a clean heart and a pure motive? If the answer is yes and you’ve yet to receive an answer, keep going back to Him day after day. Stay persistent in your prayer life.
Truth & Discernment 